Carter: Efforts to Expel Israel from UN Would Raise Questions About Further U.S. Participation in Th

September 30, 1980

NEW YORK (Sep. 29)

President Carter warned here today that should Israel be expelled from the United Nations General Assembly it would raise question about whether the United States and other countries would remain in that UN forum.

The United States will strongly oppose any effort to exclude Israel from the General Assembly or any UN specialized agency. Carter old the convention of the International Ladies Garment Worker Union (ILGWU). The “illegal expulsion” of any member “would raise the gravest questions about the future of the UN General Assembly and the further participation of the United States and other nations in that deliberative body,” the President declared.

Islamic countries at a recent three-day meeting in Morocco decided to seek support from other Third World countries to expel Israel from the current session of the Assembly. The Assembly’s credentials committee last week approved Israel’s membership but a challenge could come when the committee’s report is presented to the full Assembly.